Oryctorhynchus
{{Short description|Extinct genus of reptiles}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| fossil_range = Late Triassic,
~{{fossilrange|235|222}}
| image = Oryctorhynchus skeletal.png
| image_caption = Skeletal reconstruction of O. bairdi
| taxon = Oryctorhynchus
| authority = Sues, Fitch & Whatley, 2020
| type_species = {{extinct}}Oryctorhynchus bairdi
| type_species_authority = Sues, Fitch & Whatley, 2020
}}
Oryctorhynchus is an extinct genus of rhynchosaur from the Late Triassic (Carnian-Norian)-aged Wolfville Formation of Nova Scotia, Canada that may have been the same animal as Beesiiwo. The type species, O. bairdi, was named and described in 2020.{{Cite journal|author1=Hans-Dieter Sues|author2=Adam J. Fitch|author3=Robin L. Whatley|year=2020|title=A new rhynchosaur (Reptilia, Archosauromorpha) from the Upper Triassic of eastern North America|journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology|volume=40|issue=2|pages=e1771568|doi=10.1080/02724634.2020.1771568|bibcode=2020JVPal..40E1568S |s2cid=222211622}} It was originally seen as a species of Hyperodapedon until 2020.
Discovery and naming
File:Oryctorhynchus left dentary.png
The holotype was discovered in the Wolfville Formation by Donald Baird; its earliest known mention is by Baird (1963).{{Cite journal|last=Baird|first=Donald|date=1963|title=Fossil Footprints or Stump Holes?|journal=Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science|volume=66|issue=3|pages=397–400|doi=10.2307/3626532|jstor=3626532|issn=0022-8443}} Shortly after, it was informally named the "Nova Scotia Hyperodapedon" (H. sp.) by Robin Whatley in a 1984 paper published by J. A. Hopson.Hopson, J.A. (1984). Late Triassic traversodont cynodonts from Nova Scotia and southern Africa. Palaeontologia Africana Vol. 25; 181-201. It was briefly described by Michael Benton (1983) also as a species of Hyperodapedon.Benton, M.J. (1983). The Triassic reptile Hyperodapedon from Elgin: functional morphology and relationships. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B 302: 605-717. It was then assigned to cf. "Hyperodapedon" sanjuanensis by Lucas et al., (2002).{{cite book |last1=Lucas |first1=Spencer |title=Upper Triassic Stratigraphy and Paleontology: Bulletin 21 |last2=Heckert |first2=Andrew |last3=Hotton |first3=Nicholas |date=2002 |publisher=Authority of the State of New Mexico |pages=149–157 |chapter=The Rhynchosaur Hyperodapedon from the Upper Triassic of Wyoming and Its Global Biochronological Significance. |access-date=11 April 2023 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=imIfCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA149}} The genus was not recognised as a distinct taxon until it was named in 2020.
The holotype, NSM018GF009.012, consists of a partial jaw and several skull fragments including the rostrum and skull roof.
Fitch et al. (2023) state that specimen NSM018GFF009.003 has "No unique support for [being] Oryctorhynchus bairdi, and [they] do not consider it a part of O . bairdi. These attributes better align with those found in Beesiiwo cooowuse... [they] suggest it is either a close relative of Beesiiwo or a member of such."{{cite journal |last1=Fitch |first1=Adam |last2=Haas |first2=Merle |last3=C'Hair |first3=Wayne |last4=Ridgley |first4=Eugene |last5=Ridgley |first5=Ben |last6=Oldman |first6=Devin |last7=Reynolds |first7=Crystal |last8=Lovelace |first8=David |title=A New Rhynchosaur Taxon from the Popo Agie Formation, WY: Implications for a Northern Pangean Early-Late Triassic (Carnian) Fauna |journal=Diversity |date=10 April 2023 |volume=15 |issue=4 |page=544 |doi=10.3390/d15040544 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2023Diver..15..544F |hdl=10919/114487 |hdl-access=free }}
=Etymology=
The genus name consists of the orycto prefix, which means burrow, and the rhynchus suffix, meaning snout; the full genus name means burrowed snout. The epithet honours David Baird, for his work on Triassic tetrapods from Nova Scotia.
Classification
Sues et al. (2020) placed Oryctorhynchus as the sister species to Hyperodapedon and an unnamed hyperodapedontine taxon from Wyoming.
Paleoecology
Oryctorhynchus is from the Wolfville Formation (Upper Wolfville Member; Fundy Basin), which probably corresponds to the Popo Agie Formation. The age of the Upper Wolfville Member is unclear; it either dates from the latest Carnian? - earliest Norian? or the late Carnian (~230 Ma).{{Cite journal|last1=Lucas|first1=Spencer G.|last2=Heckert|first2=Andrew B.|last3=Fraser|first3=Nicholas C.|last4=Huber|first4=Philip|date=1999-10-21|title=Aetosaurus from the Upper Triassic of Great Britain and its biochronological significance|journal=Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Monatshefte|volume=1999|issue=9|pages=568–576|doi=10.1127/njgpm/1999/1999/568|issn=0028-3630}}
It would have coexisted with Acadiella,H.-D. Sues and D. Baird. (1998). Procolophonidae (Reptilia: Parareptilia) from the Upper Triassic Wolfville Formation of Nova Scotia, Canada. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 18(3):525-532 Arctotraversodon,{{cite journal |last=Sues |first=H.-D. |author2=Hopson, J.A.|author3= Shubin, N.H. |year=1992 |title=Affinities of ?Scalenodontoides plemmyridon Hopson, 1984 (Synapsida: Cynodontia) from the Upper Triassic of Nova Scotia |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=168–17 |doi=10.1080/02724634.1992.10011447|bibcode=1992JVPal..12..168S }} Arctosuchus buceros (?),[http://www.helsinki.fi/~mhaaramo/metazoa/deuterostoma/chordata/synapsida/synapsida_index.html The main groups of non-mammalian synapsids at Mikko's Phylogeny Archive] Haligonia, Scoloparia and Teraterpeton.{{cite journal|last=Sues|first=H.-D.|year=2003|title=An unusual new archosauromorph reptile from the Upper Triassic Wolfville Formation of Nova Scotia|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237169055|journal=Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences|volume=40|issue=4|pages=635–649|doi=10.1139/e02-048|bibcode=2003CaJES..40..635S}}
References
{{Portal|Paleontology|Canada}}
{{Reflist}}
{{Rhynchosauria|R.}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q97999460}}
Category:Paleontology in Nova Scotia
Category:Late Triassic reptiles of North America